100 Ways to Get Organized

Easy solutions for everyday problems

Most Read

The meals, the kids, the housework, the job…the only way to stay sane is to get organized. Fat chance, you say? Remember, the goal of organizing isn't to make your house pristine; it's to make your life more functional. So don't straighten for neatness sake—create an organized foundation for all the roles you play.

The Housekeeper

1. Assign specific living quarters to everything you own.

2. Put things where they work for you: vitamins by the juice glasses, coat hooks in the garage next to the car.

3. A small, open basket on the coffee table keeps remote controls from slipping between sofa cushions, says professional organizer Kathy Waddill, author of The Organizing Sourcebook: Nine Strategies for Simplifying Your Life.

8. Use a plastic caddy, not valuable shelf space, to store cleaning supplies for surfaces and floors. Keep it on the broom and mop closet floor (locked, if you have small children) and tote it from room to room.

9. Store sheet sets in the same room as the bed, between the mattress and box spring or tucked into an underbed box.

10. Keep a cedar chest (or a light-weight wicker basket if you have young children to avoid accidents) at the foot of your bed to hide blankets and extra pillows.

11. Tuck a whisk broom and dustpan in each bathroom for a daily dust-up.

12. Put a different color toilet paper than usual behind your stash of regular rolls. When a colored roll ends up on the spool, it's time to buy more.

13. Keep real cleaning cloths next to your cleaning products, and ditch the box of ripped underwear you keep in the basement.

14. Just accept it: Place a tall, narrow basket for his magazines next to the toilet.

The Mom

15. Give kids their own alarm clocks and post morning checklists for them. (It'll be less for you to organize.)

16. Move kids' cereal boxes, bowls and cups to an "I can reach it!" lower cabinet. Also, put juice boxes, milk and other snacks in an accessible place in the refrigerator.

17. Leave a shoe basket by the front door (or the kids' bedroom doors) to avoid those excruciatingly long searches through the house.

18. Have a two-compartment hamper in the kids' rooms so they can sort lights from darks as they undress.

19. When switching kids' summer/winter clothes, mark boxes with the date and sizes so you don't have to paw through them to know if they'll fit.

20. No room for a dresser? One or two sets of plastic or canvas hanging shelves in the closet make choosing clothes easier.

36. Use a morning checklist; kids aren't the only ones who forget things when they're in a rush.

37. Create other essential checklists: what goes in your gym bag, what joint-custody kids need to take back and forth between houses, what to pack for trips, information for babysitters, etc. Keep them on your computer for updating and put copies in a folder near the kitchen phone.

38. Set your computer calendar's alarm for the week before dates you need to remember, from an anniversary to the day you change the furnace filter. That will give you enough time to buy what you need.

39. Organize future events with a monthly accordion file. Put birthday cards, directions to a baby shower, a note to check on furniture deliveries, even vacation brochures in the appropriate months.

40. Put a clock in every single bathroom.

41. Always have backups: a spare set of car/house keys, a second deodorant, another way to get kids to school.

42. Make a standing monthly hair appointment.

43. Designate every Friday or Saturday as date night with your husband, and book a sitter for several weekends at a time.

44. Don't assume he'll keep those Honey-Do projects in his head. Post them on the bathroom mirror.

45. Keep a wish list of intriguing activities on hand so you don't waste precious weekend time figuring out what to do.

46. File copies of important documents (birth certificates, car title, passports, proof of immunizations, insurance information, etc.) in a three-ring binder with zippered plastic pockets. If disaster strikes, you can grab it and go.

53. Start each season by arranging clothes hangers so the hooks face out, toward the room, says Kim Cosentino, owner of the De-Clutter Box, Inc. in Westmont, Illinois. When you wear something, turn the hanger in. At the end of the season, get rid of anything that hasn't been turned.

58. Bring order to scarves and belts with an "accessory ladder," a chain of shower curtain rings—one for each item—trailing down from the top of a hanger, says Donna Smallin, author of Organizing Plain and Simple. Clip purses to a second ladder.

82. When you have a project with a lot of paperwork, stay organized by using a three-ring binder instead of flimsy file folders. List everyone involved and their contact information on the first page.

83. For smaller projects, write contact details on the front of the file folder.

84. Move finished project folders from your office into storage.

The Accountant

85. One credit card per grownup. Period.

86. Create a Receipt Depot: a folder near the door that everyone drops receipts into as they come home.

87. Bite the bullet: Computerize your finances.

88. Stick to a budget. Then you'll never have trouble covering those unexpected expenses.

89. Slip incoming bills, a pen and a thin calculator into a three-ring binder's inside pockets. Make a list of all your usual bills and expenses, and print out a fresh copy each month for your binder. Then mark the bills off monthly as you pay them. If a creditor isn't crossed off, call for a duplicate statement to avoid late fees.

90. Make sure your list includes automatic withdrawals for utilities and bills you pay online so you don't pay a bill twice or lose track of your checking account balance.

91. Ask creditors to shift your due dates to lump them all together or to split them between the two pay periods of each month.

The Handywoman

92. Keep a Phillips and flathead screwdriver in a kitchen drawer to avoid a trek to the toolbox.

93. Affix baby food jar lids to the bottom of your workroom shelf. Sort nails, screws and bolts into the jars, and twist them onto the lids.

94. When you adjust your clocks each spring and fall, also weed out expired medicine, sunscreen, food, coupons and smoke detector batteries.